What's the deal

This stuff is like, all over the news, so I'll give a sort of digest version outlining key points. If you are interested by it, check out the links under "information."

• Since the "Islamic Revolution" in the 1970s, Iran has has had a democratically elected president, via direct popular vote.

• However, the presidential candidates can be arbitrarily validated or disqualified by the Supreme Leader of Iran.

• The Supreme Leader of Iran is elected by a council of less than 100 of the highest Muslim clerics, known as the Assembly of Experts.

• The Supreme Leader of Iran is generally of a higher authority than the president of Iran.

• Reformist politicians in Iran, generally speaking, support transferal of power from the Supreme Leader to the President.

• Generally, they also support individual liberties, including removal of Iran's "moral police," more information below.

• Current popular reformism is also opposed to the strict censorship of the current government, and a lift on the ban of private media outlets.

• In 2009, presidential elections have been held in Iran.

• Iranian media broadcasted the victory of conservative candidate Ahmadinejad, over reformist Mousavi.

• Prior to the election, the office of Mousavi was burned down. No group has claimed responsibility for the act.

• Mobile phone signals were blocked on election day. Access to certain websites was also blocked.

• The result has been heavily disputed, amidst very peculiar circumstances, such as a candidate's total votes reportedly decreasing over time.

• Results have allegedly been leaked revealing that Mousavi was, in actuality, the winner of the election.

• Riots have resulted and shit has generally hit the fan.

Support reformism in Iran. Iran cannot be called a democracy by any definition of the term, when candidacy must be validated by a council-selected Supreme Leader. Even if the results of the elections can be proven to reflect the majority vote of the people of Iran, the candidates are still selected by a minority. Given this minority are religious leaders, and attain their position through religious avenues, Iran can correctly be called a theocracy, which brands itself as a democracy and falsely states its support for the will of its people.

Iran has a history of just leadership and equality. It has been, for thousands of years, until the Islamic revolution, a progressive nation. Iranian rulers in ancient times have been credited with the invention of the concept of human rights.

Iranian culture has historically been more supportive of gender equality than other cultures. In Iran today, women are oppressed under the conservative Islamic laws (see below).